I Tried the "Skittles" Nail Trend, and I'm Obsessed With the Mismatched Look

My nail artist started filing my nails to give them a square shape. She didn't need to clip my nails, as they were short already. After getting the right shape, she soaked my cuticles in oil and pushed them back. Then she grabbed a cotton ball dipped in nail polish remover and removed any remaining oil or debris from my nails.

When it was time to pick all the colors I wanted, I got a little stressed. As someone who can't make up their mind in 10 seconds, I felt like I was under pressure. (Let's face it, no one wants to be that person who tries every nail polish on the shelf.) The best thing about the "Skittles" trend, though, is that you don't have to stay within the same color family (like you might with "paint chip" nails). All I knew was that I wanted to use a mixture of warm and cool pastel tones, so we picked a violet, baby blue, soft green, yellow, and darker blue-gray from Essie, Smith & Cult, and BeBio.

My nail artist applied the nail colors very meticulously. She was done with the pinky and middle fingers after two coats, but other colors were very light, so they needed three coats in total.

The topcoat is one of the most important parts of a manicure, because it smooths over any ridges. After the top layer was applied, my nails looked even brighter and cleaner.